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Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has vowed not to bow to pressure from the United States after US President Donald Trump said he was considering a limited strike to force an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program.
Pezeshkian’s comments on Saturday came amid heightened tensions in the Gulf region, where the United States continues to expand its military presence, deploying two aircraft carriers and dozens of jets.
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“We will not bow down in the face of these challenges,” Pezeshkian said at a ceremony honoring members of the Iranian Paralympic team.
“The world’s great powers are cowardly joining forces to force us to bow down. Just as you have not bowed down in the face of challenges, we will not bow down in the face of these problems,” he said.
Iran and the United States resumed indirect talks over Iran’s nuclear program in Oman earlier this month, and held a second round in Switzerland last week.
Although the U.S. and Iranian governments evaluated the talks positively overall, they did not lead to a breakthrough.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday that a diplomatic solution appeared to be “within our reach” and that the country planned to compile a draft agreement and send it to Washington within “the next two to three days.”
intersection
Al Jazeera’s Tohid Assadi, reporting from Tehran, said the two countries appeared to be at “a crossroads again” and residents in the Iranian capital were closely monitoring any signs of diplomatic progress.
“How can anyone not worry about war?” one woman told Al Jazeera. “Even if we don’t worry about ourselves, we worry about our children’s future.”
One businessman said he believed a military conflict was ultimately inevitable because “what the Americans want is surrender and the Iranian state will not accept that.”
“If that happens, the situation will become even more difficult. Business is already slow,” he added.
Another man was more optimistic.
“The United States knows it cannot overwhelm Iran,” he said. “The United States hasn’t truly won the war in any country, be it Afghanistan, Iraq or Vietnam. It will eventually succumb to Iran. People need not worry.”
Iran and the United States held nuclear talks last year, but negotiations collapsed after Israel launched attacks on the country, starting a 12-day war. The United States also joined in by bombing three Iranian nuclear facilities in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.
President Trump issued new threats of military action in January in response to Iran’s deadly crackdown on anti-government protesters. Iran responded by threatening to attack U.S. military bases in the region and threatening to block the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for oil exports for Gulf Arab states.
Largest air force since 2003
According to US media, the US has amassed the most air power in the region since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In recent days, the United States has deployed more than 120 aircraft to the Middle East, while the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, is heading to join the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, which is already stationed in the Arabian Sea.
Iran stressed in a letter to the UN Security Council on Friday that the military buildup “must not be treated as mere rhetoric.”
Iran does not seek “tension or war” and has no intention of starting one, but will respond “firmly and proportionately” to any U.S. aggression, the letter added.
The letter was sent after President Trump claimed during Thursday’s inaugural peace committee meeting that “bad things will happen” without a “meaningful deal.”
Later that day, President Trump clarified his remarks about Air Force One, saying Iran had “10 or 15 days at the most” to do so.
On Friday, President Trump responded to a reporter’s question about whether the United States could take limited military action as countries negotiate, saying, “I would say we are considering it.” Hours later, he told reporters that Iran “better negotiate a fair deal.”
Countries including Sweden, Serbia, Poland and Australia have advised Iranian nationals to leave the country due to concerns about regional conflict.
